Thanks For The Memories
by RhymingWithSilver
Summary: 36 sentences on Matt, Near and Mello, and their lives. Everchanging POVs. Near/Mello/Matt. Everything from fluff to angst, but a pretty steady rating. Reviews gladly accepted but not required.


**A/N: 36-sentence challenge. Prompts taken from a list I found on deviantART.**

**Matt/Mello/Near, but nothing graphic. Just not-so-subtle hints at love, friendship and devotion. **

**And I know there are hardly any capitals; note they're only used for names, and only a few people's names at that. It's meant to be symbolic. (Though I do have a thing for lowercase, as you'll know if you read the short prose that I post on my deviantART account [that wasn't a shameless attempt at a plug, I promise])**

**Please review; I don't usually do things like this and your opinion would be greatly appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Death Note; it's quite easy to tell. Would I seriously kill off all my favourite characters???**

*****

_letters_

that was their goal in life; to be a letter. to be an L. it didn't take them long to realise that L, the reason to their existence, stood for many things.

_mask_

Near was good at hiding things. his mask was something he prided himself on. but when they came along, he realised maybe he didn't need it quite as much as he thought.

_dying_

it happens to everyone. but that didn't mean Near liked being the last to leave.

_clean sheet of paper_

their life was a story; when they came to wammy's, roger stole the pen, erased everything before and started writing their lives himself. but then they ran away, taking the pen with them, took a fresh sheet of paper and wrote the final chapters without someone else dictating it for them.

_rain_

it rained a lot in england. Mello, used to warmer climates, always thought it rained too often. but when he caught Matt dancing in the storms, he didn't hate it quite so much.

_screaming_

screams were the soundtrack of their lives; shrieks of pain, howls of grief, shouts of defiance, proclamations of happiness. they spent their lives screaming themselves hoarse.

_circus_

wammy's was, as well as a safe haven, like a circus. a big top of geniuses, because a genius is allowed to have quirks, so they were all eccentric to the extreme.

_illusion_

Matt's goggles were like magic; they were so good at creating illusions.

_healing_

they spent the start of their lives whole, the middle broken and the end healing. they weren't given enough time to fix themselves, so they died half-whole.

_stitches_

that time Mello threw Matt into the glass display cabinet, he needed twenty two stitches. Mello swore never to touch Matt or Near when angry ever again. and it was the first promise he made that he kept.

_insomnia_

they were living in a house of insomniacs, so no one expected them to sleep. they were expected to stay awake studying, or to avoid bad dreams. no one expected them to stay awake to play games, or to talk, or to just be together. no one expected them to have friends to stay awake _with_.

_puppets_

they were like puppets for most of their lives, so it wasn't surprising they felt the need to cut the strings. but no one guessed it would kill them.

_good times_

the happy times were the late night chats punctuated by laughter and the super mario marathons. they were the tickle fights in the study hall, the games of tag in the rain, the summer mornings spent outside. the happy times were nice whilst they lasted, but they were gone now.

_death's board games_

they were all just pawns in life and death's game of chess, but not even fate knew who's side they were on.

_train tracks_

click clack, click clack, click clack. the train click-clacks over the tracks as they play a very heated game of travel scrabble, blissfully unaware of the fate that waits at the end of the line.

_sticks and stones_

the saying was wrong. names hurt more than fists, for Matt knew that Near meant every word he let escape his lips, and Mello would never lie.

_wonderland_

Mello was alice; falling down the rabbit hole into a world of nonsense. Matt was the mad hatter; as crazy as they come. and Near was the white rabbit; always short of time.

_memories_

they had so many. the good and the bad; the ugly and the beautiful. they would remember them all, for they could never forget.

_tomorrow_

the prospect of another day of life was more like a promise than a guarantee, and Near would never forget the day that the promise was broken.

_sleep tight_

they treated Near like an infant; kissing him goodnight like parents would their child. but he bit back the words that would tell them not to; as much as he hated to admit it, he liked it when they babied him.

_and then there were seven_

Near, Matt, Mello, linda, watari, roger and BB. there may be seven left, but it felt to them like it was only three.

_the bird and the worm_

Matt was not an early bird, but he somehow still ended up with the juiciest worms of all.

_the dollhouse_

Near had always liked his toys, and Mello had thought it childish at first. but then he saw the soap-opera-like scenes near created, and he found himself playing along with him.

_when love fails_

when all else failed, they resorted to love. and when love didn't work, they gave up and barred themselves from such a disappointing world.

_falling down_

Near was falling, falling, falling. at first the ground looked terrifying, but then he saw who was waiting to catch him.

_place for us_

Mello was convinced he was going to hell; until Matt pointed out any hell would be heaven if they were all there, together for eternity. and suddenly, hell didn't seem such a daunting prospect.

_tessellate_

they were like one of Near's puzzles; they fitted together perfectly, even if only they could see it.

_almost lovers_

for a while – too long – they were not-quite-friends and yet almost-lovers. then they saw their stupidity, and righted the situation.

_i'll write you lullabies_

Matt would do anything to get his two favourite geniuses to sleep; he'd even write them a love song and spend the night singing, if it meant he got to see peace on their faces one final time.

_that's what you get_

despite not believing in such things, for four days every year, Near woke up convinced fate despised him.

_fade away_

he was fading, but then they appeared and stopped it. and now they're gone, and there's no one to stop Near from disappearing completely.

_monster_

Mello was a monster. no one could change his mind, not after the things he'd done. but then they came along, and he realised he may be a monster, but he definitely wasn't the _only_ monster.

_bloody valentines_

february fourteenth was one of Near's sad days. nothing had happened on that day, nothing bad, anyway. that was probably what made it so unbearable; it was always when he remembered the good times that he let the tears escape.

_help, i'm alive_

Near was still alive. that wasn't meant to happen. either all of them died, or none of them. there wasn't meant to be any of this 'left behind' business.

_morphine_

Matt, in the desperate days after bonfire night, tried some morphine, to see if it numbed the pain. all it did was make him realise that the heart-wrenching agony he was in couldn't be fixed by mere drugs. drugs didn't fill the hole where his heart should be; they merely poked at the emptiness.

_this. is. war._

it wasn't a war, it wasn't even a fight. no, it was a friendship, in a very good disguise.


End file.
